As a reminder, Volvo patented in 1959 the seat belt as we know it today, that is to say a three-point model with an abdominal strap and another diagonal. The company then decides to leave the right certificate and the other manufacturers quickly seized it. Today, Volvo has decided to make the belt of safety intelligent.
This new model actually uses a multitude of data collected by interior and exterior sensors in order to truly personalize the protection of each occupant. The adjustment of the belt will for example adapt according to the physical characteristics of each individual, such as their size, their weight, its morphology and especially its base position. Thus, in the event of an accident or brutal braking, a large person will benefit from a higher tension adjustment in order to reduce the risk of head injury. On the other hand, in the case of a lighter collision and if the occupant is smaller, the belt will be less stressed, which will reduce the risk of rib fractures for example.
All this has been made possible by significantly increasing the number of tension limitation settings, which manage the force applied to occupants in the event of an accident. The manufacturer has notably based on a database of more than 80,000 occupants involved in accidents in order to validate these settings. In the end, this new belt offers 11 different settings of the voltage limitation, to adapt and react to each situation according to the occupants of the occupants and the speed of the car.
This innovation should be introduced for the first time in the next Volvo Ex60, an electric SUV expected in 2026. Volvo also explains that the system is led to improve over time thanks to future remote software updates.